FORMER pupils have shared their experiences of life in the classroom under a science teacher who was revealed to be a 'predatory paedophile' four decades later.

Michael Wilde, from Old Hall, was last month jailed for a third time for sexually abusing boys under his tutelage at Wade Deacon High School in Widnes.

The 70-year-old chemistry teacher, who also filled in as a substitute during PE, was handed a six-month spell behind bars at Liverpool Crown Court – having previously been given imprisonment totalling three years in 2015 and 2016 for attacking five other pupils.

Now his former students have shared their horrific memories of their schooldays in Wilde's classroom.

One pupil, who was taught by the pensioner in the early 1990s, said: "He was an extremely nasty and arrogant bully, who would 40 years later become better known as a predatory paedophile.

"During my time in his classroom, he would often throw things around – sometimes at pupils – and would shout for no apparent reason, usually at the weaker pupils.

"The atmosphere in his classroom was one of fear.

Warrington Guardian:

Wade Deacon High School

"I used to miss the first lesson every Wednesday morning because I was scared of him – I absolutely hated him.

"He was around 42 years of age, although he looked much older – he was a small, overweight man with darkish glasses and a fat stomach whose breath was absolutely atrocious."

Warrington Guardian:

Michael Wilde after being jailed in 2016

The pupil also described Wilde, of Drake Close, as an 'absolutely abhorrent human being'.

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He added: "Wilde instilled fear into many pupils during his time there, he was an absolutely vile human being.

"The fact that he was also a paedophile does not surprise me in the slightest – he certainly did fit the controlling behaviour.

"Children need to be nurtured throughout school in order to develop their personalities, and all in all my teachers at Wade Deacon were excellent superiors who I still have massive admiration for.

"But Wilde definitely had a negative effect on hundreds and hundreds of children who went to the school."

Warrington Guardian:

Another student, who was taught by Wilde at the Farnworth school in the mid-1980s, added: "He terrorised me and bullied me for two years.

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"He was just horrible to a lot of pupils with his aggressive nature and ridiculing behaviour.

"I hope he is suffering – he made my last two years of school miserable."